Indian Authorities Struggle To Rescue Residents Trapped On Mountainsides; Taliban Attacks Checkpoint Near Presidential Palace In Kabul; Questions Remain For Transition Of Power In Qatar; Brazilian President Announces National Referendum For Political Reforms; Russia, China Strike Back Against Criticism in their Handling of Edward Snowden; American Tennis Player Bethanie Mattek-Sands Becomes First Player To Wear Google Glass

Aired June 25, 2013 - 08:00:00 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

The Taliban staged a raid right in the heart of Kabul, striking a checkpoint outside the presidential palace.

A day after he was reportedly set to leave Russia for Cuba, Edward Snowden's location remains a mystery.

And Wimbledon through the eyes of a player. We meet the tennis player with Google Glass.

And we begin in the Afghan capital of Kabul where Taliban militants stormed a checkpoint at the presidential palace early on Tuesday. Now smoke was seen coming from the complex just hours before Afghan President Hamid Karzai was scheduled to hold a media event. And officials say that the attack was quickly put down. All the assailants were killed. Three guards also died. The U.S. ambassador condemned the attack and called on the Taliban to stop the violence.

Now let's take a closer look at where the attack took place. Now the Presidential Palace is located in the Shash Darak district of Kabul. It is close to several international embassies, including those of the U.S., UK, and Germany.

Now the headquarters of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, is also nearby.

Now the attack was an early test of Afghan forces and their ability to keep Kabul safe. Now they took charge of the nation's security from NATO- led troops last week. And journalist John Wendle has been following this story. He joins us now live from Kabul.

And John, any more clarity on how this attack took place earlier today?

JOHN WENDLE, JOURNALIST: Thanks for having me.

I haven't actually gotten much clarification on how the attack was able to be carried out, but my feeling after talking to some analysts here in the city is that this would have taken a significant amount of planning to be able to buy SUVs as well as the uniforms and then forge the documents that were used to get past the first level of security.

So, this probably was something that had been in the works for a few weeks.

LU STOUT: So this was a highly planned attack by the insurgents involved. And if this attack was a test of Afghan forces and their readiness to secure the entire country, how did they do today?

WENDLE: I think they did pretty well, mostly because by the time I was able to get there all the shooting and fighting had been wrapped up. But that may also be a function of where the attack took place between two kind of security perimeters around this green zone area in the center of the city. So it may have already been contained by the time things really broke out.

LU STOUT: The Taliban, they say that they carried out today's attack. And if so, what does it mean for any attempt for them to start peace talks with the U.S. let alone with Hamid Karzai?

WENDLE: Well, I've been in touch with the high peace council, which is Karzai's -- the body that Karzai has selected to negotiate with the Taliban. And they said that basically there are some groups within the insurgent group that wish to instill some distrust in the peace process. But for the most part, the high peace council wants to continue talking with the political leaders of the Taliban. And they think they can continue to do that.

LU STOUT: All right. John Wendle joining us live from Kabul, thank you very much indeed for that.

And now to a royal handover that's making history in the Persian Gulf. Now Qatar's ruler has transferred power to his son, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani's decision to voluntarily hand over the reigns is rare in the region. All too often Gulf leaders hold on to power for life or until they're overthrown. And the transition means the sheikh's son has become the youngest monarch in the Gulf at the age of 33.

Now under the outgoing emir, the small but energy rich nation has raised its international profile. It has backed Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad's forces. And the Taliban have just set up a diplomatic office in Doha.

Jomana Karadsheh looks at the sheikh's legacy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: From one of the poorest countries in the Arabian Gulf, to one of the world's richest. Over the past two decades Qatar has undergone a transformation that turned this tiny nation of less than 2 million people into an Arab powerhouse.

Much of Qatar's influence stemming from its staggering economic growth. The young country, independent for less than half a century, was nearly bankrupt in the early 1990s. Then, came the economic and political strategies of this man, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani, credited with turning the tide.

With the world's third largest proven natural gas reserves, the monarch who took over from his father in a 1995 bloodless coup focused on developing the liquid natural gas industry, an output that continues to grow along with a booming economy, reaching far beyond its borders.

Qatar's international investments in recent years, include some high profile deals in the united kingdom. With the more than $2 billion purchase of the luxury retailer Harrods, and a stake in the London stock exchange and Barclay's bank.

But it was the Qatar that emerged in 2011 that surprised many around the world. Historically, Qatar played more of an impartial diplomatic role, mediating between various factions in places like the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Yemen and Darfur. But with the start of the Arab Spring, Qatar placed itself at the forefront of regional change, supporting opposition movement in their uprisings against fellow Arab regimes.

In Libya, Qatar played a pivotal role in the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi by providing financial, military and logistical support to rebel groups.

But over the past two years, it has done almost the same in Syria as one of the main backers of the opposition.

Qatar's determination to make history in the Arab world does not stop here. In 2022, Qatar is set to be the first Arab country to host the football World Cup. Until then, they world will be watching to see what direction this small yet powerful state will take under its new leadership.

Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And now we want to tell you about a very unusual situation unfolding in China right now. An American executive says he's been held hostage by employees at his factory in suburban Beijing. Now Chip Stearns says he's being prevented from leaving the factory grounds. The reasons given for the dispute depend on who you ask, but money and recent layoffs are apparently at the heart of it.

Now our David McKenzie went to the factory and he spoke to Chip Starnes and David joins us now live from our Beijing bureau.

And David, what did he tell you?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, I'm actually here outside the factory. Behind me here is where this bizarre story is unfolding. This is a U.S. executive who is owner, or part owner of this factory. It's a medical supply factory here on the outskirts of Beijing. He says that he's been stuck here for five days, held hostage by his workers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCKENZIE: American executive Chip Starnes puts on a brave face, but he's being held captive in his own medical supply factory in China.

(on camera): So are you being held hostage now?

CHIP STEARNS, CO-OWNER, SPECIALTY MEDICAL SUPPLIES: The answer is yes. 30 or 40 of them ransacked my office, coming there for three hours, standing there on my desk just staring at me. 1:00 in the morning, my GM and I finally gotten them out, laid down for the next two hours it was banging on the doors, windows and lights and stuff. So a lot of sleep deprivation the first 48 hours.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): His family back home in Florida say they're in constant contact, worried sick, saying Starnes has a medical condition.

He says he just wants to leave, but they won't let him.

(on camera): And so if you were to try and leave now you couldn't leave.

STARNES: I -- it would be interesting to try. That's definitely crossed my mind.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): In a bizarre twist, we're let in to view the factory.

Starnes says he's been investing in China for more than a decade, wants to move some manufacturing to Mumbai, India.

(on camera): You and I talking here and you still being held hostage, it's kind of surreal.

STARNES: It is kind of surreal. In fact, I don't think I've been back here in three days or so. So, yeah, it actually -- the whole thing saddens me, greatly.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): Now, he's meeting with workers trying to negotiate his way out of the factory.

STARNES: This is not how to accomplish something. You know, I'm at the point now -- you know, we're at a standstill. I deserve the right to go back to my hotel room. And I deserve to come back and we can address things professionally.

MCKENZIE: The workers say they're owed two months back pay and told us Starnes isnt' a hostage, but he can't leave.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCKENZIE: Well, Kristie, it's certainly on some level the case of the workers say one thing, the executive saying another, but certainly a pretty dramatic labor dispute and according to Chip Starnes, a hostage situation and it looks like he's going to be spending another night here in China stuck in his own factory -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: You know, it's such an incredible story and a deeply bizarre one as well. It has the attention of the U.S. embassy. It also has the attention of the local Chinese police. But why are Chinese police treating this as a labor dispute and not as some sort of a hostage situation?

MCKENZIE: Well, it's a little bit more complicated. As you're sort of hinting to. Both the U.S. embassy and in fact the local police aren't really treating this as a hostage standoff. The U.S. embassy telling us that really they're keeping tabs on the situation, that they've given consular support, certainly Starnes himself says that the embassy is treating this as a civil case, not as a criminal one. And the local policemen here also staying out of it.

This isn't entirely unheard of in China when the workers kind of hold the management in the location while they settle a dispute. So it's kind of in a gray area.

But when I spoke to a worker here and I said, well, certainly aren't you keeping him hostage? He said to me, well, we're not keeping him hostage, but we won't let him go until he pays up.

So certainly it is a dispute that happens in China. And it might drag on for some time indeed.

I think it also speaks to the wider situation of some businesses moving out of China, moving into other countries in the wider Asia region. We shouldn't put too much on this particular story from that perspective, but certainly a very unusual business standoff here in China.

LU STOUT: Yeah, holding the management literally hostage has certainly caught out attention. David McKenzie joining us live from Beijing, thank you David.

Now the whereabouts of the former NSA contractor who leaked U.S. government secrets, that remains a mystery. And up next on News Stream, we'll look at the possibilities of where Edward Snowden might be and find out what options the U.S. has now to get him back.

Also, Brazil's president proposes a referendum hoping it will be enough to end two weeks of nationwide protests.

And people around the world pray for Nelson Mandela. South African president remains hospitalized in critical condition.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: You're watching News Stream. And you're looking at a visual version of all the stories we've got in the show today. We've already told you about an attack near the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan. A little later, we'll go live to South Africa for an update on the condition of former South African President Nelson Mandela.

But now let's turn to the search for Edward Snowden, the man who leaked details about secret U.S. surveillance programs.

Now the former U.S. government contractor, now fugitive, was last reported to be at the airport in Moscow. He flew there on Sunday from Hong Kong and has stayed beneath the radar ever since.

Now Russia is rejecting suggests that it has helped Snowden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): He independently chose his route. And we learned, as did everyone else, from the mass media. He did not cross the Russian border. And we think all of the attempts that we are now witnessing, attempts to accuse the Russian side of violating U.S. law and almost conspiring accompanied by threats towards us are totally unfounded and unacceptable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now Snowden could remain in the transit area of Moscow's airport indefinitely if that is where he still is. Now U.S. officials are urging Russia to send him back to the U.S. As Jill Dougherty tell us, the White House is eager to avoid a repeat of what happened in Hong Kong.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On June 14, with Edward Snowden hiding out in Hong Kong, the Justice Department filed sealed charges against him. The next day, the U.S. requested the Hong Kong government to provisionally arrest him for purposes of extradition. But the State Department didn't revoke his passport until almost a week later. But they say they did it before he left Hong Kong.

Claiming they needed more documents from the U.S., Hong Kong authorities allowed Snowden to board a plane anyway and flee to Moscow.

In an interview with CNN, Secretary of State John Kerry denied the administration committed a major blunder.

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: He was under a sealed indictment. And the moment the indictment was unsealed and we knew of it, at that point his passport was pulled within two hours.

DOUGHERTY: The U.S. also did not ask INTERPOL to issue a red notice to arrest Snowden. A Justice Department official said a red notice is said when you don't know a fugitive's location. But it was clear Snowden was in Hong Kong.

A furious White House says Hong Kong and Beijing knew exactly what they were doing.

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We are just not buying that this was a technical decision by a Hong Kong immigration official, this was a deliberate choice by the government to release a fugitive despite a valid arrest warrant. And that decision unquestionably has a negative impact on the U.S.-China relationship.

DOUGHERTY: The State Department warns there will be consequences.

PATRICK VENTRELL, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT ACTING SPOKESMAN: If we can't count on them to honor a legal extradition treaty, then there's a significant problem. So this is something we're raising very directly with the Chinese.

DOUGHERTY: But just what kind of consequences? The State Department isn't say. And China experts note, given that economic relationship with China, as well as political issues like Syria, retaliation could be counterproductive.

Jill Dougherty, CNN, the State Department.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And Beijing is hitting back. China is criticizing the U.S. for cyber attacks. But the foreign ministry says Beijing still wants to work with Washington. And insists it had nothing to do with Hong Kong's decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUA CHUNYING, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN (through translator): I have already answered that question. It is unreasonable for the U.S. to question Hong Kong as the government handling Snowden's case with accordance with law. And it is grantless. And the U.S. accusation of China's central government is grantless.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now meanwhile, the main English language newspaper here in Hong Kong has revealed new information about Snowden. Now the South China Morning Post, or the SCMP, says it spoke to Snowden back on June 12. And according to the SCMP, Snowden says he took a job at Booz Allen Hamilton specifically to get proof of the NSA surveillance program.

Now Booz Allen has not commented on the report. It previously confirmed that Snowden was an employee for less than three months. Snowden says he intends to release more documents taken from his time at Booz Allen.

Now let's turn to the Korean Peninsula. And websites in both the North and South have come under cyber attacks. And the hacking comes on the anniversary of the start of the Korean War. And the hacktivist group Anonymous said it was behind the attacks on North Korean sites. Its targets included KCNA, the state run news agency.

Anonymous says it took down the North's propaganda websites, which include a Twitter and YouTube account.

But it denies hacking South Korean sites. Media organizations and government websites, including the president's office, came under attack today.

Now remember, Seoul has been working to boost cyber security after a widespread outage back in March. That hack attack was blamed on North Korea.

Now Brazil's president is proposing a referendum on political reform. Dilma Rousseff made the suggestion after talks with protest leaders, state governors and city majors. And she says her government has heard the voices demanding change.

Now massive demonstrations have swept the country over the past two weeks, though this week things appear to be calming down a little.

Now let's get the very latest now from our correspondent Shasta Darlington in Sao Paulo. And Shasta, walk us through what the Brazilian president is proposing.

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, it's actually a very big deal. What she wants to do is hold this national referendum on sweeping political reforms that would really be, in theory, the biggest reform, change to the constitution since the military dictatorship.

But she also talked about investing more than $20 billion in reforming urban transport across the country. She also talked about pushing a bill through congress that she had already supported to use future oil royalties for education and also to allow foreign doctors into the country to fill many positions in remote and dangerous neighborhoods that Brazilian doctors simply won't take.

So this is her big idea.

But what has people talking is this national referendum, and that's because it would ultimately sidestep a congress that a lot of Brazilians use as gridlocked, and even worse corrupt.

So if she could do that, she could get people on her side.

But the question is, can she really carry out something that ambitious before elections next year? And the likely answer is now. But what it could do is just get these protesters more on her side, viewing that she is trying to do the same thing they are, maybe get some more people off the street and get people seriously talking about combating corruption. And all of this, of course, could translate into more votes for her next year, Kristie.

LU STOUT: So are protesters onside? I mean, what do activists make of the president's plan?

DARLINGTON: They're still digesting it. We heard from the group that is really targeting public transportation, when in fact they want zero tariffs. They don't want to have to pay for it at all. They say that she isn't offering enough, others are still digesting it.

But still expect big protests tomorrow, Wednesday, when we're going to finally see some more games in the Confederation's Cup, that big tournament leading up to the World Cup just a little less than a year from now. Those were planned ahead of time. And we expect that they will go ahead as people try and figure out whether or not this is the best that she can do, Kristie.

LU STOUT: So more protests ahead, more protests around the Confederation's Cup which is ongoing this week. But there have been reports that the number of demonstrators just not -- not as many as we saw in previous weeks, especially last week. Is the movement starting to lose momentum?

DARLINGTON: Absolutely, Kristie. You can see that especially in Sao Paulo, because here we aren't playing any Confederation's Cup games. This is where the movement really got started. It really exploded. And then it spread to so many other cities.

But here it really has lost momentum, because the city and the government and the state, they agreed to the demands for lower bus fares, so people feel like, OK, the people -- rather the power of the people is being felt. So they are pulling back a bit.

There's still wide support for these movements. When you see the polls in the numbers, people are very supportive, but we just don't see the numbers on the street. Here in Sao Paulo there hasn't been anything really significant since last week, Kristie.

LU STOUT: All right, Shasta Darlington on the story for us live from Sao Paulo, thank you Shasta.

And you are watching News Stream. And still ahead on the program, floods and landslides ravage the Himalayan region of India. Up to 1,000 people appear dead. And authorities are scrambling to help survivors. We'll take you live to the disaster zone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, you're back watching News Stream.

Now Italian police raided some of the country's biggest football clubs searching for evidence of improper financial dealings by two agents. Let's get more on this from World Sport's Alex Thomas.

And Alex, tell us more about today's raids.

ALEX THOMAS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, hi, Kristie. The picture is changing all the time, but if you think that Italian football has struggled for almost a decade to cast off a reputation for corruption and match fixing, it may be something of a surprise to find out that these raids today were actually about tax evasion.

Italian police raiding around 40 Italian football clubs, we're told, including 15 of the 20 Serie A clubs that competed in Italy's top division last season, including the top four clubs -- Juventus, Napoli, Milan and Fiornentina. And what the police, we're told, were looking for was documentary evidence to support their case alleging that certain players and their agents evaded tax. When it came to the selling and buying of players, they claim the documents were invented -- nonexistent invoices, fake invoices made up just to try and evade the payments of tax.

And they say this was a serious and large attempt at tax evasion, hence the raids.

So it's not so much the police targeting the football clubs this time as looking for documentary evidence to support their case against certain players and agents, Kristie.

LU STOUT: All right, so looking at evidence for tax dodging. And Alex, Italian football is no stranger to scandal or controversy, but what's different about today's raids?

THOMAS: Yeah, well, interestingly Kristie, Italy were famous for -- as a national team winning the World Cup in Germany in 2006. And many players saying afterwards that they were helped by kind of back against the walls mentality because of the rest of the world pointing fingers and being rather snippy in their attitude towards the match fixing problem in Italy that saw Juventus stripped of two Serie A titles, interestingly.

Juve to this day still very -- feel very prickly on the subject. They're the reigning Italian champions as well.

But if we look at some of the players alleged to be involved in this police raid today, the biggest name probably is the Argentina international Ezequiel Lavezzi. He spent the last season palying for Paris Stain-Germain who won the French championship. But he was playing for Napoli before that, of course.

Former Romania international Adrian Mutu is another name being mentioned.

And another Italy international who is not at the Confederation's Cup in Brazil, but plays for AC Milan, Antonio Nocerino.

And talking of the agents we were mentioning as well, Kristie, one name stands out above all others and that is that Luciano Moggi, who is a very well known name in the world -- the murky world, you could say, of football agents, and certainly a lot of controversy is attached to him and his dealings down the years.

But it's very early days and we'll have to wait and see what the Italian police uncover.

LU STOUT: The murky world of football agents.

Alex Thomas on the story for us, thank you.

And staying with football. And Spanish prosecutors tell CNN that Lionel Messi has paid $13 million in taxes. Now Messi is being investigated by Spanish authorities for alleged tax fraud. Messi payment covers the period between 2010 and 2011, but efforts to prosecutor him for an earlier period are still going ahead.

Messi is widely regarded as one of the world's best players. And he's been named FIFA's player of the year for four years running. He's due to appear in court on September 17.

Now you're watching News Stream. And still to come, as South Africa waits for news on the man they call Madiba, we'll be live with the well wishers outside the hospital treating Nelson Mandela.

And as Wimbledon continues, we've got a techy take on the game of tennis. Check out one player's first person perspective through Google Glass.

Now all the militants who staged an assault on the Afghan presidential palace in Kabul were killed in the attack. At least three guards also were killed when explosives were set off at a checkpoint outside the palace. The Taliban have claimed responsibility. And the attack comes a week after the international coalition handed over security to Afghan forces.

Now Qatar is getting a new ruler, 33-year-old Seikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani. His father made history in the Arab world by voluntarily handing over power, something that is rarely seen in the region. Now 61-year-old Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani has backed rebels in Syria's civil war.

Russia's foreign minister says that his government has nothing to do with the travels of Edward Snowden. The former computer contractor flew from Hong Kong to Moscow on Sunday. Snowden is behind a major leak of U.S. intelligence and is said to be seeking asylum in Ecuador.

And after days of huge anti-government protests across Brazil, President Dimla Rousseff has proposed a referendum that would lead to political reform. She also offered $25 billion of improvements in public transportation.

Now in South Africa, worried well wishers are awaiting the latest word on ailing Nelson Mandela. The 94-year-old former president has been in the hospital for more than two weeks. And Robyn Curnow is on the seen in Pretoria. She joins us now live. And Robyn, what's the latest you're hearing there?

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the latest here is that more and more people are gathering outside this hospital where Nelson Mandela is lying critically ill. So many more people, in fact, that it seems that local police have been drawn in to try and control the crowds. You can probably see them over my shoulders. At least 10 more policemen have been stationed at the entrance to this hospital.

As for the crowd, it seems to be passersby, South Africans coming to not only look and gaze at a lot of mementos and flowers and balloons at the entrance here, but also I think to gawk at the media. There's also been a huge increase in the last six, seven hours of foreign media crews coming to this pavement, essentially setting up camp.

Now while all of this is happening here in Pretoria. We also understand there's a big build-up of people, of media outside Nelson Mandela's home in Qunu, in rural Eastern Cape. We understand members, key members of his family are there allegedly having a meeting.

It's unclear why they left his bedside here to gather in rural Eastern Cape to have this meeting. What we do know is that his wife, Graca Machel, was not part of this gathering. She remains here at least in Pretoria and certainly overnight spending the night close to the ICU where Mandela has spent the past few nights over the last three weeks.

So all-in-all a real increase, a real sense of anxiety. And I think a lot of action going on both here and outside Mandela's house. It's unclear what all of that really means.

LU STOUT: A real sense of anxiety in both places as you report, Robyn, and also the flow of information, it's mainly coming from the president's office. Why is that?

CURNOW: Well, I think both the family and the authorities here just wanted to have literally one source of information, one person, one body giving information. Just remember, this Mandela family, particularly the direct Mandela family, you know, is about 40 to 50 people. A lot of them have their own views and opinions of course within government. There are lots of conflicting political opinions between the party and government and various departments. So I think there was a real concern -- lessons learned also from previous hospitalizations that there shouldn't be too much -- too many people saying too many things.

So the fact that all official information is coming from the office of the presidency, through one person, Mac Maharaj who was on Robben Island with Mr. Mandela all those years ago is indicative that they're really trying to tightly control the flow of information.

And of course the information we are getting is not very much, you know, just these brief updates. And the latest one coming on Sunday night, crucially saying that he's in a critical condition.

LU STOUT: Robyn Curnow reporting live for us in Pretoria, South Africa, thank you.

Now last week, an Indonesian minister accused Singapore of acting, quote, like a child over the haze that was hanging over the city-state. But now Indonesia's president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is personally apologizing for the hazardous air pollution which has since also spread to Malaysia.

On Monday, he said, quote, "for this incident I, as president of Indonesia, would like to apologize to Singapore and Malaysia and ask for their understanding."

It went to say, "Indonesia did not want this to happen. We're trying to address this problem responsibly."

Let's get the very latest on the haze affecting Singapore, Malaysia, and of course Indonesia itself. Mari Ramos joins us from the world weather center -- Mari.

MARI RAMOS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Kristie, we've had quite a bit of an improvement as far as the weather there in Indonesia. Just a shift in the weather in the winds helped the situation -- helped improve their air quality significantly. We've even had a little bit of rainfall just north of Singapore, which has really helped things out. And it also has been raining in Sumatra.

But before we head to the weather there in Indonesia and Singapore, I want to start you off with the situation in India. And I'm going to start you off with Google Earth. This is pretty serious stuff over here. When we look at India, we're not going to talk about the areas down here in the plains, let's talk about the mountains well up here to the north.

And what you can see over here, this is the state that was the most affected by that disastrous flooding. You can see that clearly right there if we zoom in a little bit more. What I want to try to do is show you the terrain, the kind of situation that people are dealing with.

This picture from Google Earth was taken back in the -- was taken back in the winter so you have a lot of snow in the mountains all the way down even into the valleys. Most of that snow, of course, has melted. Now it's only in the highest peaks that you still have the snow, but that's why these rivers are always so full.

And then we had this deluge that happened two weeks ahead of schedule with extremely heavy rainfall.

Let's go ahead and go farther down a little bit more and you can see these towns and villages that are just perched up into the mountainsides here.

And look at this, what you see that right there? That's actually a roadway up high into the mountains. And these are the roadways that in many cases collapsed. They are the ones that have the landslides. And then down toward the towns in the river valleys, that's where we have all of that disastrous flooding.

We continue moving farther downstream and take you to some of the areas as we head now into some of the lower elevations. And here, this is where all of these rivers drain. So the rivers here remain very, very high even now.

We have Nic Robertson, I don't know if he's still with us -- do we have him? Yes. Nic Robertson is with us there live.

I wasn't sure, Nic, if you were with us, because I know it has been very difficult to get along some of these areas. And I can see it's clear right now behind you, but you've had some very heavy rain in that area as well. What's the latest situation now in the rescue that's ongoing there?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, really I think perhaps the best indication of the way that the weather is going and therefore the rescue efforts is just over my shoulder behind me. The hills are clear. We can see them. The clouds are lifting off. And that's really helped the Indian air force here get into some of the higher mountain valleys, up to about 8,000 feet some of the places they've been going to in the mountains to, to rescue people who have been trapped up there. They've been trapped because the roads were washed away.

And what we understand from senior air force officials is, they estimate between about 6,000, maybe down to 4,5000 people still trapped in the mountains who they need to rescue.

Their efforts were severely hampered yesterday. Their helicopters were not able to take off as frequently as they wanted to get into the mountains because of the rain, because of the cloud. And today it was like that first thing in the morning. Then the clouds (inaudible) as you see lifted, then they were able to go in.

So their hopes are up that they can airlift (inaudible). But it is still, Mari, very much (inaudible) come down again. The rain comes down. The helicopters can't go in.

They're still inaccessible those areas. They've had to fly in the fuel for the helicopters by plane and drop it off. They can't even resupply those areas in any way by road right now, Mari.

RAMOS: You know, Nic, it's amazing because it would be difficult to fly in those areas to get around on a good day, on a good weather day and with good conditions. Now, when the weather can turn to suddenly -- and the map behind me, I know you can see it, but it has those weather warnings even for those areas where you are now where you can get 25, maybe up to 70 millimeters of rain in the next couple of days. And that's something that worries me quite a bit for those areas, because you could have more landslides.

Now, once they get these people, if they can pluck them off of these mountainsides and off of these roadways, and they bring them to safer areas, what are they doing with them. And where are all these pilgrims and tourists and survivors going now?

ROBERTSON: Get them out of the area.

We were at the civilian airport here today, which flies direct flights to the capital Delhi, other parts of the country, and the government had brought in an aircraft and it was filling it with people that the government had paid for to fly out pilgrims, people had been stuck on the mountains, flown by the helicopters and were now being taken on civilian government paid for aircraft out of the area as fast as they can get them out.

The situation in the mountains so severe that what the air force has had to do is literally set up air traffic control points with -- with air force personnel on the ground with all their equipment to be able to guide their helicopters in safely, because obviously you had large numbers flying in. But the aim is to just sort of two or three step process, collect people on the mountains, fly them out when the weather is good, get (inaudible) to the lower terrain onto some civilian aircraft out of the region.

And you can see a lot of people still waiting. People there telling them that the conditions there have improved for them, but the first few days were some of the hardest days, a lot of people are really just waiting to get down from the hills and get home and get safe again, Mari.

RAMOS: Well, just tremendous situation, a huge rescue effort, probably one of the largest ever conducted in those areas. Nic Robertson reporting live there from those hardest hit areas there in Northern India. Thank you, Nic.

When you look at the rain fall right now, Dehradun, not too far from where Nic is reporting had 120 millimeters of rain additional compared to what they've had before. When you think about this one weather station alone, they've had over 400 percent of their rainfall that they normally would get during the month of June. That just gives you an idea, Kristie, of how intense this rainfall actually is. And why were so many people trapped there? Well, because they didn't know it was going to be raining this early in the season. Nobody really knew. The rain did catch them by surprise by the thousands here in the north and it was extremely heavy rainfall that would have been bad even if those survivors had not been in those areas.

Images like this, unfortunately, becoming more common. This is a warning map. You can see it extends with the heavy rainfall all the way down even into -- toward the planes and over toward the Bay of Bengal. Those are going to be areas to watch. So definitely something we'll continue monitoring.

Temperature not a big deal in the daytime, I think, because it's a lot cooler than it was because of the rain. But I'm a little concerned for people in the mountains overnight. It could be very, very cold still even this time of year. Back to you.

LU STOUT: And again, thousands and thousands of people in northern India still waiting for rescue.

Mari Ramos there, thank you.

And in the wake of a tragedy in the United States, an interesting development out of Hollywood. Now the actor Jim Carrey is distancing himself from his latest film. Now Carrey stars in Kick Ass 2. It's based on a comic about ordinary people who dress up like superheroes. There are no super powers, but there's plenty of violence in the world of Kick Ass. And that's led Jim Carrey to back away from the movie. In fact, he tweeted that he worked on the movie before the Sandy Hook shooting in the U.S. and says, quote, "in all good conscience, I cannot support that level of violence.

He went on to apologize to everyone else who worked on the film saying, quote, "I am not ashamed of it, but recent events have caused a change in my heart."

Now you're watching News Stream. And up next after the break, a major upset on the first day of Wimbledon. Rafael Nadal is knocked out of the tournament in the first round. Coming up on News Stream, a look at what went wrong for the Spanish tennis star.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

And this week on Leading Women, we continue our conversation with one of India's leading bankers. And in more than two decades at ICICI Bank, Chanda Kochhar has climbed the ranks to become CEO. And today she talks to Poppy Harlow about mentoring other women and maintaining a balance between work and family life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORREPSONDENT: As a child, Chanda Kochhar figured she'd get a job in India's civil service. Instead, a move to Mumbai as a teenager opened her eyes to the world of finance. She joined ICICI Bank as a management trainee in 1984. 25 years later, she became the company's first female CEO.

CHANDA KOCHHAR, CEO, ICICI BANK: A lot of responsibilities, big roles, challenges have been given to women not because they are men or they are women or so on, but they been just given to people who have the -- who the organization believes has the capability to perform.

HARLOW: Do you ever place women in top roles in part because they're women?

KOCHHAR: Not because they are women, but I think we as an organization have just groomed so many women. And I"m very fortunate to have very capable women who are there in our top positions all entirely on account of their merits.

HARLOW: Kochhar's father died when she was just 13. Her mother was left to support the family. She considers both parents to be powerful influences.

KOCHHAR: My father, in a way, was a mentor in the way he instilled the basic values and (inaudible) in me. My mother was a mentor by showing me an example to say that if women have tenacity they can achieve whatever they have to.

HARLOW: Today, Kochhar has children of her own. And she's not troubled by having to balance the needs of her business and her family.

You're a mother of two. And I wonder how often you hear the question, how do you do it all? How do you balance it all? How do you have it all? Do you hear that often? And does it bother you ever?

KOCHHAR: Yeah, I hear that often. But at the same time, I do believe that it is a woman's, not just responsibility, but I think actually a great pleasure to play the role of mother and a wife. And I've just tried to focus on playing both the roles to my fullest ability.

HARLOW: Do you think there is such a thing as balance?

KOCHHAR: I don't think there's balance. There's basically to say do both the things. And you have to do it. So I think what has to -- women have to start from this mindset to say we're going to achieve 48 hours of work out of 24 hours. And let's see how do we do it.

HARLOW: A determined woman with an ambitious goal. She wants ICICI to be among the world's 20 biggest banks within the next decade. It's a challenge she says she's more than ready to tackle.

KOCHHAR: It's been -- it's been a long and exciting journey, but a journey full of focus and hard work. I think a journey full of saying, yes, I'm willing to take the next challenge. I'm willing to -- I have the confidence of, you know, moving through it and producing some good results.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Chanda Kochhar there.

And next month, we'll have two new Leading Women: Zhang Xin, CEO of SOHO China, one of the country's leading real estate companies, and Ilene Gordon, the CEO of the U.S. company Ingredion, which makes food additives.

And for more from our Leading Women series, got to our website. This week, we're celebrating female pioneers in the fields of archeology, paleontology and geology. Check out this article from Victoria Harridge. It's at CNN.com/leadingwomen.

Now she's also behind a blog commemorating women who, among other things, have excavated Neanderthal sites, mapped the ocean floor, and raised Henry VIII's flagship The Mary Rose from the seabed.

Now, the tennis world has been surprised at Wimbledon. No, I'm not talking about Nadal's shocking loss. For the first time, Google Glass is being worn on the court. Find out how the technology is helping one player practice for the big match.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Let's return to our video rundown now. And earlier, told you about the referendum on political reforms that Brazil's president is proposing to calm the unrest in her country. And now to tennis and an incredible result at Wimbledon.

On Monday, Rafael Nadal did something he had never done before in a grand slam: he lost in the first round. Now Nadal lost in straight sets to Steve Darcis, a player ranked 135th in the world. And it's hard to overstate just how staggering an upset this was. Nadal is probably the hottest player in tennis right now. He's won 43 matches, lost two so far this year and picked up his eighth French Open crown two weeks ago.

Now compare that to Steve Darcis. The 29-year-old Belgian had won just twice all year before pulling off an upset for the ages.

But how much of the result was down to inspired play by Darcis? And how much of it was due to Nadal's ailing knee?

Now last year the Spaniard suffered a shock loss in the second round of Wimbledon and then he took seven months off to recover from a knee injury. But Nadal refused to blame his knees for Monday's loss. He said this, the only thing I can say is that Steve played a fantastic match. Everything I could say about the knee would be an excuse. Steve deserves not one excuse. Rafael Nadal there showing his grace amid an incredible defeat.

Now this is the sort of view we're used to seeing when watching tennis on TV, but what about a closer view of the action? Christina Macfarlane introduces us to the first tennis player at a major tournament to wear Google Glass.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If you've ever wondered how it feel to play on the hallowed turf of Wimbledon, this is a view from the top. This week, USA's Bethanie Mattek-Sands has become the first professional athlete to use the revolutionary Google Glass at a major sporting event. And it's been causing quite a stir.

(on camera): Have any of the other players been coming up to you in the week and asking you about them, saying, hey Bethanie, what's that you've got on your face?

BETHANIE MATTEK-SANDS, TENNIS PLAYER: It's funny, actually, because if you have no idea what Google Glass is, it looks really odd on. I mean, there's a couple of people that obviously knew what it was and kind of had an idea, but most of the players didn't. And they've just kind of been looking at me a little weird this whole week.

MACFARLANE: While the Glass has multiple functions, the most important for Bethanie is the integrated head cam which allows her to instantly play back and review her training sessions.

MATTEK-SANDS: It's basically from my eyes, my point of view. So when I'm watching the video, I'm seeing what I'm seeing on the court. And it was interesting to see how long I'm looking at the ball, how fast it's coming at me.

MACFARLANE: Do you think that there's a long way to go for technology like this that's going to enhance the way that people play sports in the future?

MATTEK-SANDS: I'm sure. You know, who knows what they can do with team sports. I mean, how many point of views would you have on that on a soccer field or a basketball court, you know, but for me, for tennis, it's been a great advantage. And it's been a lot of fun, actually, seeing -- playing on the court, seeing it in the screen here and then seeing it on the computer.

MACFARLANE: So you've been using it here in practice at Wimbledon. Will you be taking it into competition here during the tournament?

MATTEK-SANDS: I won't be taking it on the court in competition here. I know that's been the rumor kind of going around, but I'm not going to be playing with it. I've just used it on the practice court and started with that.

MACFARLANE: With her busy schedule, there's also benefits off court.

MATTEK-SANDS: I use it a lot of times for lists, for reminders. Obviously I get emails and texts through it. I can stay connected on Twitter, on Facebook. So it's just kind of everything basically in front of your face.

MACFARLANE: She even raised the bar in the fashion stakes wearing Google Glass to this year's pre-Wimbledon party tweeting as she went.

But for the uninitiated like myself, it's back to basics with a simple question.

MACFARLANE: It may feel like a gimmick, but if these superspecs can bring Bethanie success, she certainly won't be the only one to tap into Google Glass at a grand slam.

Christina Macfarlane, CNN, Wimbledon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Wow. I want to see more footage like that.

Now, let's go over and out there with a spinning statue that has museum officials in Britain scratching their heads. Now check out this time lapse video from the Manchester Museum. As time passes, you can see an Egyptian artifact slowly but surely turning by 180 degrees. If you look closely, it only appears to spin during daylight hours. None of the other figures in that display case move.

Now take a second look, this time with a spotlight on the statue. Now the statue's case was recently moved a few feet from its original position. And the curator says subtle vibrations caused by visitors to the museum are now making it turn.

Sounds sensible? Well, not so fast. One thing remains unexplained in this museum mystery, why the statue has spun in a perfect circle. Spooky.

And that is News Stream, but the news continues at CNN. World Business Today is next.